Order CUCULIFORMES

Cuckoos
Because the European Cuckoo lays its eggs in the nests of other birds, it is assumed that all cuckoos do so; in fact of the four subfamilies into which the cuckoos are divided only the members of the first subfamily, the True Cuckoos, are parasitic in this way.

The True Cuckoos are long-winged cuckoos, grey or brownish above and barred or streaked below. Young birds are brown, barred with rufous above, and white, marked with brown, below; a rare colour phase of the adult female is much like the juvenile plumage, but richer chestnut. The different species resemble each other so closely that even coloured illustrations are of little help; their calls are distinctive, but some of the species that only winter here call little, if at all, while in Borneo.

The Bronze Cuckoos form a taxonomically difficult group, seldom seen well in the field, and the shortage of information on their calls and biology is a serious obstacle to identification. (Smythies, The Birds of Borneo, 1999)

Malkohas
All the species found in our area behave in much the same way; they seldom fly, and are usually noticed in a thick bush or climber-clad tree, hopping up the branches in cockscrew fashion and manipulating their tails with dexterity; rather silent birds, only the shaking of the leaves as they climber slowly about draws attention to their presence. (Smythies, The Birds of Borneo, 1999)

Coucals
They are non-parasitic cuckoos of partly terrestrial habits. Living in grassland and secondary forest, one species only within tall lowland forest. (Smythies, The Birds of Borneo, 1999)

Ground Cuckoo
Only a single species and endemic to Borneo and rather rare .

Photographed Species

Scientific Name	Common Name	Link
(Cacomantis merulinus)	Plaintive Cuckoo	Image
(Cacomantis sonneratii)	Banded Bay Cuckoo	Image
(Cacomantis sepulcralis)	Sunda Brush Cuckoo	Image
(Centropus bengalensis)	Lesser Coucal	Image
(Centropus rectunguis)	Short-toed Coucal	Image
(Centropus sinensis)	Greater Coucal	Image
(Chrysococcyx minutillus)	Little Bronze Cuckoo	Male	Female
(Chrysococcyx xanthorhynchus)	Violet Cuckoo	Male
(Clamator coromandus)	Chestnut-winged Cuckoo	Image
(Cuculus lepidus)	Sunda Cuckoo	Female
(Cuculus micropterus)	Indian Cuckoo	Male	Female
(Cuculus optatus)	Oriental Cuckoo	Image
(Hierococcyx bocki)	Bock's Hawk-cuckoo	Image
(Hierococcyx fugax)	Malaysian Hawk-cuckoo	Image
(Phaenicophaceus curvirostris)	Chestnut-breasted Malkoha	Male	Female
(Phaenicophaeus diardi)	Black-bellied Malkoha	Image
(Phaenicophaeus javanicus)	Red-billed Malkoha	Image
(Rhinortha chlorophaea)	Rhinortha	Male	Female
(Surniculus lugubris)	Drongo Cuckoo	Image